“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing — and keeping the unknown always beyond you.”

“It’s not enough to be nice in life. You’ve got to have nerve.”

“I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary–you’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.”

“I can’t live where I want to, I can’t go where I want to go, I can’t do what I want to, I can’t even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.”

“One day a hummingbird flew in–
It fluttered against the window til I got it down where I could reach it with an open umbrella–
–When I had it in my hand it was so small I couldn’t believe I had it–but I could feel the intense life–so intense and so tiny–
…You were like the humming bird to me…
And I am rather inclined to feel that you and I know the best part of one another without spending much time together–
–It is not that I fear the knowing–
It is that I am at this moment willing to let you be what you are to me–it is beautiful and pure and very intensely alive.”